Project: Nastia's Birdhouse

[Christopher Stahl]

Excellent work Nastia! I would also like to see a photo when house is painted up and has occupants.

[Mike Wilkins]

The beginnings of a studio artist???
Great to see the younger generation involved. By the way. Do you also cook in your shop? That looks like a pot on a heating element to the right of the miter saw. Hot soup while you work?

[Jim Becker]

TBy the way. Do you also cook in your shop? That looks like a pot on a heating element to the right of the miter saw. Hot soup while you work?

No...warm BLO and other finishes. It's cold outside.

[John Buzzurro]

Good job Nastia! Jim, thanks for sharing.

[Benjimin Young]

Fantastic story! Thanks for sharing.

[Bob Swenson]

Jim; You’re a great dad. Never did anything like that with the kids.
One of them throws Pots and pounds nails. (Chris)
Per pounds nails and throws you know what!
Eric has a Masters in fine Art and sells cookies.
GO FIGURE
We Norwegians either pound nails or cut bait
Bob

[Mike Weaver]

Nastia,
очень хороший!
(took Russian in high school - still remember little things like "very good" )

Jim,
Working on projects with my kids is one of, if not THE most satisfying things to do in the shop.

BTW, I'm not sure if they would work over other glasses, but we have child sized safety glasses for our boys.

Thanks for sharing this.
-Mike

[Dave Ray]

Thanks for sharing, Jim.... not just the building of a bird house but more importantly the building of memories. Years from now your daughters will be telling your grand children.... "my Dad and I"....

[lou sansone]

hi jim
one of the better posts recently . thanks for sharing it with us

best wishes
lou

[Todd Solomon]

Jim,

I think it's terrific that you're taking time to help your kids grow, despite the large remodel project you have before you. I'm in the middle of a major shop and storage expansion project, and your post is a good reminder to reserve some family time for my daughters. It's easy to get caught up in the rush to get things done, but not as easy to remember what's priority #1- family. I think you've struck a nice balance.

Todd

[Jim Becker]

Mike, I do have some child sized safety goggles, but they were purchased before the girls got their glasses. They really don't work well with the specs. Fortunately, the safety glasses I had them use stay on their heads quite well and frankly, bigger isn't all that terrible when you consider more of their face is protected.

Todd...you make some good points. I really did have to smack myself yesterday to stray from the "tasks at hand" and quickly come up with a small project. It's so easy to get absorbed that one can forget what's more important...that's one of the things that Nastia and I have in common: She uses videos to escape from the intense stress she holds and I use my shop for the same.

[Nancy Laird]

Jim, this post brought back some fond memories for me. I used to help my dad with some of his projects. I don't know how much help I was, but I was with my daddy, and those memories are precious to me. I'd still rather be in the shop with the men than in the house with the women! Good job on the birdhouse and tell Nastia--for me--good job!!

Nancy

[Sam Chambers]

...only parents understand their children's capability...but 10 wasn't too early for mine to use tools.

Absolutely correct, Glenn. My 12 year-old stepson loves to join me in the shop. Unfortunately, he is highly ADHD - not a good combination. I taught him to turn pens on my midi-lathe, and we have a scroll saw that he's allowed to use, but hasn't shown an interest yet. But no way would I let him near any sharp spinning things like blades or bits.

I've had to make him leave the shop on more than one occasion because he wouldn't follow the rules. (My shop, my rules!) Example: He sometimes likes to hop around on 1 foot. That's not a good thing at all in a shop, where there's sawdust and chips on the floor, hard cast iron surfaces to hit one's head on, and another person using power tools. If he gets to stay in the shop while I'm using the power tools, he has to stand where I can see him in my peripheral vision, so I know where he is.


Jim, it sure looks like Nastia enjoyed her shop time with you! A birdhouse was the first project Geoffrey and I worked on together, so it brings back some fond memories.

[Dave Worsley]

Nice pic's and story! I really like the look of your shop as well, it gets me dreaming about my shop someday! Right now with two kids at Collage its all i can do to pay the bills on time! But someday it will happen, and my love for woodworking i know it will?

Dave

[Eric Wong]

Great post! My mom needs some birdhouses, now I just need to find some kids...